While the nation continues to debate the state of education, teachers continue to teach. Some are teaching in absolutely reprehensible conditions while others are in acceptable situations. It’s what we do.

The current budget crisis has shifted the core of the debate from what we can do to make education better to how much of a monetary cut can the schools take. The form of this shift seems to be centered on unions and how reluctant they are to change. The most frequently sited issue that the Eduskeptic has seen is tenure and how to do away with it. It is a useful distraction if one isn’t making much progress on the complexities of educational change.

It is necessary to say that the unions are not the issue, regardless of what a group of pro-business types would like us to believe. As far as the chamber of commerce and the wealthy owners of large businesses are concerned, any cut in the ability of a union to function is money in their pockets. Meanwhile, across the nation teachers unions and associations have worked with their school boards to make necessary cuts.

What seems to be happening now is that with the very loud and vociferous calls from some state governors and city mayors that unions must be busted, tenure thrown out, pay and benefits cut, a sense of sanity is appearing. The “I will not budge from my position” adopted by Scott Walker is increasingly being seen as a very untenable position.

This is not to say that there isn’t room to make education in this country better. There always is room for that. There are ways to make the tenure laws more understandable to everyone and to effect reasonable change to them. The economic reality of different communities and their schools is a rich ground for understanding and changing how we deliver education to such a very diverse population. The list is long and always will be.

The dose of sanity that is creeping in is a welcome change from the all or nothing rhetoric of some politicians. It seems that the people of this country are far more in tune with reality than the politicians. It’s not really all that surprising. Every action produces a reaction.